The Distillation

"Coffee culture and crack culture follow from the drugs’ effects — one drinks coffee in the morning because it is a stimulant and one becomes homeless and crazy while smoking crack because it is horribly addictive. However, particularly when crafting policy, one must tease out the difference between the culture and the drug...Good science cannot depend on such arbitrariness."

One of the most powerful tools for introspection and therapy was co-opted by left-wing radicals, demonized by law and order romantics and barred from science. A small amount of rigorous research has shown the power of psychedelic substances to enact lasting, positive change. A Cambridge study found long-term improvements to psychological wellbeing after dosing 20 healthy volunteers with LSD. A Johns Hopkins study used psilocybin mush- rooms to help smokers quit. Eighty percent of the participants remained abstinent after six months, more than twice the rate of typical therapy programs. A New York University study treated cancer patients’ anxiety and depression with psilocybin, and 60 to 80 percent of participants showed significant improvements in quality of life. Researchers tend to choose psilocybin instead of LSD because psilocybin is boring, clinical, difficult to pronounce and there- fore does not play as large a role in the culture. Good science cannot depend on such arbitrariness.

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